"I broke him mentally" - Sean O'Malley reflects upon UFC 276 No Contest stoppage

Sean O'Malley's big test against No. 9 ranked Pedro Munhoz ended anticlimactically after an eye poke led to the fight being waved off in the second round. However, Sean O'Malley is taking some positives away from the experience.

In a new interview with The Pivot Podcast filmed the day after UFC 276, O'Malley shared what he thought about the Munhoz bout. He said:

"What I can take away from that fight is that he was a top ten guy, I broke him mentally, he was looking for a way out. Nut shot wasn't a nut shot, it was on the belt line. It was a nice body shot. If you get hit with a nice body shot, you can pretend it's a nut shot and take time. The eye poke, I don't really feel like I poked him in the eye. I was patient, I was landing good shots, I was finding my range. I was about to take over that fight and he just found the perfect way out."

Watch the full Pivot Podcast interview with Sean O'Malley below:

Following O'Malley's accusation that Munhoz was faking the eye injury, 'The Young Punisher' shared paperwork from his hospital visit that confirmed he suffered a torn cornea in his right eye. While the eyepoke that ended the fight was clearly unintentional, it still caused the damage that resulted in the fight being stopped.

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Sean O'Malley wasn't happy Pedro Munhoz was awarded the first round on judges' scorecards

Sean O'Malley felt pretty good about how his first round went against Pedro Munhoz at UFC 276. So when he learned that two of the three judges gave the round to Munhoz on the scorecards, he was pretty upset. At the post-fight press conference, he said:

“Have those judges kick me and I’ll check their kick and they’ll be like ‘Oh, okay. That hurt.’ That’s a strike for me. That hurt Pedro, every time he would kick me and I’d check it, it would hurt him. For anyone who judges to say that’s a score for him? They’re literally stupid. Just stupid ... It’s a weird feeling because I do feel like I won the fight, but it’s not like the emotions of winning a fight. I was winning the fight. I can’t believe the judges. Were they watching? I didn’t get hit. How could you score that? That makes zero sense.”

Watch Sean O'Malley's full post-fight press conference interview below:

According to the official statistics from the fight, Munhoz didn't manage to hit O'Malley with anything other than leg kicks. However, he did fire off twenty six of those during the fight, nineteen during the first round alone. That was four strikes more than O'Malley landed in the first.